Woodward's Wayward Book

by J. Orlin Grabbe

I used to think Bob Woodward was an investigative
reporter. And perhaps he was (I still admire The Final
Days.) But his new book The Choice seemingly
puts the lie to that.

The title "The Choice" can be taken to refer to the
political decision voters will make in November between Bill
Clinton and Bob Dole (as well as to the primary process by
which they were selected). Woodward also has choice
opinions about Colin Powell, claiming on the Larry King show
(June 26) that Powell would make a highly qualified Secretary
of State.

Well, hopefully for Woodward's sake the book will
become a best-seller before both Clinton and Dole drop out
of the race. And the notion of putting a thief like Powell into
the office of Secretary of State, where he can continue to
plunder our military resources and perhaps also put diplomatic
secrets up for sale, is as ludicrous as any political proposal
gets. Woodward hasn't begun to do his homework, and the
book deserves to be trashed.

Despite any public protestations to the contrary,
behind the scenes the Democratic bigwigs have begun the
process of finding a Clinton replacement. ("Democratic
bigwigs" refers to people like the new head of the DNC and
to politicians like John Glenn and Ted Kennedy.) Perhaps the
mantle will fall on Al "Unabomber" Gore if anyone thinks he is
bright enough (put together two Al Gores and you get one
Dan Quayle). In Ten Predictions
I forecast Gore would not be the nominee either, based on
the belief that the bigwigs wouldn't think he could carry the
load. But on this point we shall have to wait and see.

The resignation of Clinton is not far away. Air-head
political commentators keep saying "Whitewater has not hurt
Clinton in the polls", as though polls mean shit in a court of
law. Clinton is going to get indicted if he stays around,
although his indictment will come after that of Hillary. But the
national security establishment has to be concerned about
Clinton's recently-developed chronic use of cocaine.

No one really cares about Clinton's party lines while
he was Gov. of Arkansas (at least I don't). But now the drug
seems to have taken over, and no one needs a cokehead
President. ("Mr. President, North Korea has just invaded
South Korea." "Well, let me do a couple of more lines, then
I'll come take care of those mothers!") The drug is
incompatible with the job.

If all the scandals surrounding the Clinton
administration, such as the FBI files, suddenly seem to be
sticking, it is because Clinton's days are already numbered by
the powers that be. Clinton will be asked to resign and that
request will be an ultimatum, a prelude to an "accident" (like
that of Colby) if it goes unheeded. Like it or not, that is the
reality of the U.S. political process today.

Dole? Dole has received one Fifth Column
information package already (hence his resignation from the
Senate), and another will be delivered at the appropriate time
- --though not nearly as soon as some other politicians would
like.

But there is nothing to cry about in all this. The
country deserves better than a Clinton or a Dole. That's
something to think about this July 4.

Some Updates:

The New York Times front page (June 26, 1996)
says: "The White House and the F.B.I. had earlier put the
number of improperly requested files at about 407. But Mr.
Marceca's personal files show that the White House also
obtained as many as 500 additional reports . . ." Let's see,
407+500=907, similar to the 900+ number I reported in
Some Observations on the Non-News. Well, I just reported
the number of files I knew about at the time. But now I'm
beginning to think my information was incomplete, and that my
own number is thus also much too low.

George Bush returned home from Switzerland empty-
handed and angry. Meanwhile, rumors are flying all over
Washington D.C. that our Secretary of Defense William Perry
is involved in a company that has significant dealings with the
Chinese military, in particular the missile division. I have not
been able to confirm anything about these rumors. But since
the Bush-Powell deal that led to the loss of Bush's $75
million was missile-related, one wonders if there is any
possible connection to Perry. (Keep in mind that none of this
extracurricular arms dealing has anything to do with politics:
it's just about ways to make money. You know, the stuff they
left out in the school book chapter on patriotism.)

The trial of Earl Brian has started in California. You
can read about Mr. Brian in
part 27 of my Vince Foster series.